


Last Known Surroundings

by SmoakingGreenArrow



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-04-06 05:55:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14050386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmoakingGreenArrow/pseuds/SmoakingGreenArrow
Summary: Felicity Smoak is a cyber security analyst working for A.R.G.U.S with her partner, John Diggle. Felicity and Dig are sent to the island of Lian Yu in search of a man that Amanda Waller wants, but what they find there is not what they expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story started from a prompt in a series I'm doing on Tumblr called Arrow Out of Context (taking Arrow quotes and writing ficlets for them). I've created a number of different alternate universes in the process, but the response for this one was incredible! I thought it needed a few more chapters. The first two chapters are also posted in "Can't Help Falling in Love", but the rest will be updated here soon. :)

Oliver watched as the plane flew above his head, and he ran through the jungle, tracking it through the sky until he saw two people parachute out of it.

They’d be landing in the water, and Oliver picked up his speed until he reached the beach. Keeping his distance, he crouched down in the thick foliage, his eyes never leaving the new visitors as they landed in the ocean.

He stayed perfectly still as a blonde woman popped her head above the water with a gasp, followed by a tall, dark man. They silently swam to the shore, climbing out of the cold water.

“We couldn’t have landed on shore?” The woman asked, shivering as she splashed her feet through the shallow water, making her way to dry land.

The man behind her was huge, and Oliver immediately stiffened, ticking him off as a threat. He smiled at the back of the woman’s head as he followed her out of the water and onto the beach, “Just keep your head on a swivel, Smoak. The man we’re about to deal with is dangerous…so stay focused.”

Oliver watched as the woman’s lips closed into a hard line and she nodded, her eyes scanning the trees lining the shore.

Once they had their gear together, the strangers each threw a backpack over their shoulders and headed off for the dense forest.

Oliver silently followed, learning enough after five years on this island to know that anyone who showed up at this place was not to be trusted. He also knew that the people who found their way here were never good people. Slade Wilson, Anthony Ivo, Edward Fyers…

The woman surprised him, though, as he followed silently, trying to learn more about them and what they wanted. What to expect from them.

The man that walked beside her fit the perfect mold of the government. He was definitely military.

But the girl…

Despite her partner’s warning, she babbled the whole time that they walked through the forest, seeming to have forgotten his warning. Her footsteps were loud and untrained, and more than once, Oliver noticed her partner throwing her annoyed glances over his shoulder.

She seemed nervous to be here. Something about the place “gave her the creeps” as she’d told her partner. Oliver understood the feeling. There weren’t any good feelings in this place. Just a lot of death and a lot of pain.

“Felicity,” the man held up his hand to quiet her, and Oliver held his breath. 

_Felicity?_

The name suited her, actually.

Oliver kept every muscle of his body still as the man listened, his eyes analyzing the forest that was impossible to predict unless you’d spent time in it.

The girl named Felicity pinched her lips together, looking like nerves were bubbling up inside of her and she just wanted to start babbling again.

He hadn’t noticed that he was smiling to himself, amused by the expression on her face, until the man’s gaze turned towards the trees that he was taking cover in. Oliver’s smile fell, and his eyes darkened as he stared at the man.

Luckily, it was just his instincts that had set him off, telling him to look in this direction, nothing that he could actually  _see_. “What is it, John?” The woman whispered, coming up to the man’s side, her eyes following his, trying to see through the thick green woods.

Her partner sighed, “Nothing. I just really need you to keep it down, okay?”

“Do you think he’s…out there?” She swallowed, her eyes widening. “Like he knows we’re here?”

“I don’t know,” John sighed again, putting a hand on her elbow and leading her forward, moving faster now. “We’re in trouble if he does, though. He knows this place like its home by now.”

Felicity nodded slowly, her hands clenching into fists. “Right. Okay.”

Oliver clenched his jaw as he continued to follow them, his body tightening in a defensive way. No matter how blonde or bubbly she was, they wanted him, and they definitely weren’t a rescue team.

He stalked behind them for another mile before he heard the click. 

Her partner, John, didn’t hear it, and he kept walking ahead.

But Felicity froze.

Her eyes darted down to her foot. “Dig?” She choked out, her voice rising with panic, catching her partner’s attention.

He was a few yards ahead of her, and Oliver watched as he jogged back over to her and dropped to his knees. He brushed the dirt off of the landmine that Oliver and Felicity already knew was there. “Shit,” John muttered. “It’s old. Military grade.” 

“Do you think he put it here?” Felicity breathed out, blinking quickly as she stared straight ahead, standing perfectly still.

John pressed his palm to his forehead as he looked up at her, his expression grim. “It’s possible. Just hang tight, I’ll try to disarm it.”

Felicity let out a strangled cry, and Oliver had no idea what came over him. Reacting to the terrified sound that came out of her, he gently made his way out of his hiding place. The woman saw him first, and her eyes widened, her jaw dropping. “You can’t disarm it,” Oliver said slowly.

John flipped around, reaching for the gun on his back, but Oliver was faster, closing the distance and yanking his wrist back until he dropped it. John cried out in pain, and Oliver kicked the gun out of his reach before picking it up and securing it into his own waistband.

He cursed himself, he should have known better than to try to save strangers. Especially the kind that came here looking for  _him_. It probably would have been wiser to let these people get themselves blown up.

Oliver kept his eyes on John as he stood up, “I’m going to need you to back up.”

“Like hell.” The man spat back.

Oliver raised an eyebrow, “If you try to disarm that explosive, it’ll go off. Do you want to kill your girl?”

John glanced back at Felicity, pinching his lips together and cursing under his breath. “What are you going to do?” He asked.

“You’re going to get back.” He said to the man.

“What?”

“Now.” Oliver ordered, gesturing him away. John must have seen that he wasn’t playing around, because he took a few steps away from Felicity, even though he looked like his instincts told him not to.

Turning his eyes to the woman, Oliver nodded slowly to her, surprised that his voice softened when he spoke again, “I need  _you_ to hold on to me tight, and don’t let go.”

The woman’s eyes got even wider, her eyebrows shooting up. “What-”

Oliver ran towards her. Moving as fast as he could, he grabbed her hips and shoved her off of the landmine, using the four seconds he knew he had before it would explode. He kicked the explosive in the opposite direction, knocking Felicity to the ground.

His body covered hers as the loud blast rang in his ears. He kept his body still over hers, his hands on either side of her face as he protected her head from any shrapnel.

He felt a few shards and sparks landing on his back, but it was nothing compared to the scars he already had.

As the dull ringing in his ears subsided, Oliver opened his eyes to look down at her; the wide-eyed, bewildered expression on her face.

Felicity’s hands ran over his shoulders, surprisingly gentle, as if she was checking him for injuries. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at her.

“God, you’re really sweaty.” She mumbled, but her hands continued to inspect him.

He bit his lip, picking his head up to see that her partner was slowly getting up. He looked back down at the woman. “Are you okay?” He asked.

She nodded. “Are you?” She panted, her hands still examining him. He let out a breath and nodded, too. It’d been a long time since anyone had asked him that. Since anyone had cared to see if he was hurt. Since anyone had even _touched_ him. “I’m Felicity,” she offered, her tone shy and innocent, surprising him again.

Oliver finally remembered that he should probably get off of her, helping Felicity to her feet and watching her as she brushed herself off. “John,” she said as her partner came back towards them, “you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. You?”

“Yup, I’m okay.  _So_ okay,” she said as her eyebrows crinkled, her eyes landing on his bare chest, and Oliver cocked his head to the side. She cleared her throat, glancing back at John. 

Felicity put her hand on Oliver’s arm, but he moved out of her grip. His stupidly heroic moment was over, and he was getting as far away from these people as possible…no matter how  _cute_ one of them may be.

Slowly backing up, he prepared to make his escape, but the woman followed after him. "Wait-” she objected, before she halted to a stop, something in his eyes making her hesitate. “We’re not here to hurt you.”

“ _Felicity_ …” Her partner gently warned as Oliver watched her, and she steadily walked towards him again, her hands held up as if she was approaching a wounded animal. Her cautious instinct probably wasn’t too far off.

“This is my friend John, he’s an agent, and I’m an analyst. We work for a department of the U.S. government called A.R.G.U.S.”

“ _Felicity_ ,” Her partner’s warning was a bit sharper this time, and Oliver finally moved his eyes away from the girl to look at him, his eyes narrowing.

“What do you want?” Oliver asked lowly, not letting his guard down for a moment. He’d heard their conversation about coming here for a man. And he was the only man here.

The two visitors shared a look.

Felicity took another step towards him, “We’re looking for a man named Yao Fei Gulong. He was sent here by the Chinese military almost a decade ago. My research shows that a man like him is perfectly capable of surviving in a place like this for ten years, and we’d really like to find him.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes at her, “What do you want with Yao Fei?”

Felicity raised her eyebrows, “You know him? Could you take us to him?”

He straightened his shoulders, “What do you want with Yao Fei?” He asked again, harsher this time, since apparently the woman wasn’t understanding who was in control here.

She hesitated, looking back at her partner. John sighed, shaking his head at her. But she turned back to Oliver anyway, “My boss seeks out people with special skills like Yao Fei.”

“To do what?” Oliver asked.

“To help keep the world safe,” she sighed, and her partner clipped out her name again, cursing.

“You came all the way here to recruit an old archer that’s been stranded on an island for an entire decade?”

Felicity shrugged, offering him a slight smile, “If you’ve encountered him here, then I’m assuming you know just as much, if not more, about what Yao Fei is capable of. What he can do.”

Oliver hesitated, taking a step back. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but Yao Fei is dead.”

“What?” The woman breathed, following after him as quickly as she could.

He knew he could have been gone before she had a chance to blink, but he moved slowly…letting her catch up to him. And she caught his hand, pulling him back around.

Crowding her, Oliver’s eyes were hard as he stared down at her. He tried to intimidate her, these people needed to go back to their secret government division and leave him alone. But Felicity’s hand was still in his, and she squeezed it. The smile she gave him was sweet, so much more kindness in her eyes than he could ever remember, and his eyes softened in response. She kept her gaze on his, unwavering and unafraid.

Oliver stopped seeing threats. He stopped seeing targets. He just saw the pair of gentle, pretty blue eyes in front of him, staring up at him, and he lost himself for a moment. He forgot where he was and who he was.

And he paid for it.

Felicity’s smile fell from her face, her hand tightening in his, her eyes going wide. “Holy frack,” she breathed, “you’re Oliver Queen.” Oliver lifted his jaw, trying to put his guard back up. “The whole world has been wondering what happened to you,” she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

Felicity sat in her chair, staring at the unopened files on her desk without seeing them. Or anything else in front of her for that matter. Her head was somewhere else, back on the island.

John had called Amanda Waller to inform her that Yao Fei Gulong had died years ago, to which their commanding officer had instantly replied, “take Queen instead.”

The only thing that made Felicity feel better was that John had seemed just as surprised by the response as she was. Waller had known the situation on Lian Yu, that Gulong wasn’t there to find. Waller knew that they’d find Oliver Queen on that island and not Yao Fei.

But what if Oliver Queen had been a deranged lunatic? She’d sent them there completely blind and unprepared.

Waller told her that she knew Felicity would have some kind of sway with Oliver because Felicity had worked at his family’s company four years ago. It was a weak argument, but she was starting to feel like her boss didn’t care. Amanda wanted Oliver Queen in her custody, and Felicity felt expendable. Besides, Felicity had never had a single decent interaction with Moira Queen during her time with QC. It wasn’t like she had any funny stories about his family that she could have shared with him. Her connection with his family’s company was barely a reason for him to trust her. But Waller was willing to risk her and John’s lives to get to Oliver anyway.

Felicity was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t hear John coming in. “Waller wants to see you.” He grumbled, sinking onto one of the leather chairs in the cyber security office.

She frowned, glancing at him as he closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the chair. “What’d she tell you?”

“That she didn’t see enough of a difference between Gulong and Queen to believe that it was necessary for us to know about our true target.”

Biting her lip, Felicity shook her head, “we never should have taken him in, John. I’d been researching Yao Fei for years. I knew everything I possibly could about  _him_. I was prepared to drag  _him_ in by force if we had to…not…some hot lost billionaire.”

Diggle sighed, opening his eyes and meeting her gaze, “I know. But we followed orders, Felicity. We had to.”

She glanced away, because she knew that Oliver letting his guard down for her was the only reason they’d gotten him. 

After getting Waller’s message, Felicity didn’t have enough time to think before John told her to distract Oliver. She wasn’t even sure what her partner planned to do, but she struck up a conversation with Oliver, babbling on about her time at Queen Consolidated and what a small world it was.

Then John had knocked Oliver out, and they’d taken him back to A.R.G.U.S.

The last thing she’d seen on Oliver’s face was a hint of a smile just before John hit him over the head with his gun. He’d been looking into her eyes, amused and completely  _distracted,_ unaware of the attack because of _her._

It made her feel icky.

“I felt  _icky_ about it too, Felicity.” John muttered. Her eyes darted to his, and she huffed, clamping her lips shut. She knew she had an awful habit of talking to herself, but the security office was usually empty. “You should get your ass to Waller’s office before she gets pissed.”

Rolling her eyes, Felicity stood up, marching out of the room and to the elevators, heading straight for Amanda Waller’s office on the top floor. Her heels clicked across the tiles and she didn’t stop until she was at Waller’s door.

Felicity straightened her back, “you wanted to see me, ma’am?”

Amanda Waller looked up from a file she’d been going over with another agent, gesturing for the man to leave as her eyes appraised Felicity. “I see you’re still not fond of the dress code.”

Glancing down at her embellished gray dress and purple heels, Felicity shrugged. The dress code was only a suggestion for her department. Agents had specific uniforms. But the cyber security analysts were just asked to wear dress pants and collared shirts.  _Gross_. Color was also frowned upon, but she didn’t care. She was behind a desk where hardly anyone saw her all day anyway, so it didn’t really matter. Waller was simply knit picking because she knew Felicity was upset with her.

“You wanted to see me, ma’am?” She repeated, raising her eyebrows. Waller was a terrifying woman, but Felicity’s stubbornness was a force to be reckoned with.

“Yes. I need you to talk to Mr. Queen.” 

Felicity’s eyes widened. They’d come back with the prisoner over a week ago, and Felicity had asked every single day to see him. She wanted to apologize for the part she played in his capture, or at least to see that he was okay. 

She knew her organization and how they treated prisoners, and she felt responsible for whatever was happening to him. She  _was_ responsible. But every day when she came to this office to ask, she was either told no or told that Waller was too busy to see her. “I thought you didn’t want me to talk to him.”

“Circumstances have changed, Miss Smoak. I’ve had Mr. Queen in custody for ten days and he hasn’t said a word until this morning. We’ve used every technique imaginable, but this man is nearly unbreakable. I’ve never seen anything like it. Our most resilient captive before Mr. Queen had only lasted four days.” Felicity flinched, knowing she meant torture. The reverent tone of Waller’s voice made her stomach turn, the woman was actually impressed with a human being’s tolerance for torture. 

“It has definitely solidified my need for Oliver Queen to be a part of this department.” Waller finished.

Felicity laughed once, “you think he’s going to join forces with you, after what you’ve done to him for all this time?”

“No, Miss Smoak. In order for someone to submit, they need to be broken. It’s clear that Mr. Queen would rather die before he breaks. It’s obviously a problem.”

Felicity crossed her arms, a new wave of guilt hitting her as a chill touched her spine. How much pain had he suffered through to convince Waller of  _that_?

He wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for her. He wouldn’t be tortured or forced to decide between breaking or dying if she’d just let him be. 

“What do you expect me to do about it?” Felicity snapped, more anger and sass in her voice than she’d ever used with any superior. Ever.

Waller noticed too, an eyebrow raising. “I know you don’t believe me, but I didn’t withhold information from you expecting you to die on that island. I expected Queen to take a liking to you. You have a history with his family…the people he hasn’t seen in five years. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s  _connection_. Something Queen hasn’t had in a long time. I knew he wouldn’t kill you, or agent Diggle.”

Felicity scoffed in response, “what if he’d killed me before I even got the change to tell him!?”

Waller just glared, clearly not used to, or amused by, the disrespectful tone. Felicity straightened her shoulders, not willing to give in just yet. Waller raised her chin, “you’ve worked for the cyber security and analysis department for three years, Miss Smoak. You know that I am hardly ever wrong. And I was especially confident about this assignment. So I am going to need you to move past my indiscretion rather quickly, and talk to Mr. Queen.”

Waller spoke lowly, and Felicity heard the threat behind the suggestion. 

Waller hated loose ends. She hated  _problems_ even more. 

And Felicity was becoming both. 

“I’m the one who brought him here, where he’s been tortured for ten days. What makes you think he’ll talk to me now? That he’ll trust me?”

“Because he asked for you.”

All she could do was stare at Waller, who rolled her eyes and grabbed Felicity’s arm, dragging her to the elevators. She stood stoically next to her boss in a tense silence as they rode from the top floor to the bottom. And then Waller led her to the observation room, where feeds from cameras that were planted in the holding cells were being monitored.

Felicity had only been in the observation room a handful of times, choosing to keep the gray areas about her job out of sight.

But there was nothing  _gray_ about the man who sat on the floor in cell #3, his back against the wall and his head hung. Oliver was covered in blood and bruises, shirtless just as he’d been on the island. The only difference was the new scars. “Let me talk to him.” Felicity seethed.

Waller held up a hand, “wait.”

The door to Oliver’s cell swung open and an agent walked in. Without saying a word, the man walked up to Oliver and struck his face with the back of his hand. Felicity inhaled sharply at the sound.

Oliver barely flinched, his head snapping to the side at the blow, but then he turned back slowly, his eyes darkening as he looked up at the agent. His body remained relaxed though, showing no signs of fighting back or defending himself…aside from the murderous look behind his gaze.

The agent pointed up at the camera in the corner of the cell, “tell my boss what you want. What’s gonna get you to talk.”

Oliver’s eyes followed his gesture, but his expression didn’t change as he glared at the camera. It felt like the anger was for  _her_. Because of what she’d brought down on him. Felicity knew she deserved it, but it was chilling to see. He stared for a long moment at the camera before saying lowly, “Felicity. I want to talk to Felicity.” 

His voice was just as terrifying, and she wondered if ‘talk to’ could be exchanged for ‘kill.’

Waller turned towards her, “that’s the first and only thing he’s said since he got here, so trust me, Miss Smoak, you’re going in there whether you like it or not.”

“Why is he so important?” Felicity fired back, anger flaring because this little show seemed unnecessary. She didn't have to hurt him. Amanda had already said that Oliver was only willing to talk to Felicity. Waller just cocked her head to the side, not looking like she intended to share. “What do you want with him?” Felicity pushed.

Pursing her lips, Felicity did her best to maintain eye contact with the cold gaze of Amanda Waller. “Look, if you want me to go in there and talk to  _that_ ,” Felicity pointed at the screen where Oliver was still looking at the camera as if he was plotting the deaths of whoever watched him, “then I deserve to know.” Waller just raised an eyebrow. “Tell me why he’s important, and I’ll do it.”

With a sigh, Waller admitted, “we believe that a man named Baron Reiter is going to be making an excursion to Lian Yu in pursuit of a very powerful artifact. I want Mr. Queen to work undercover for A.R.G.U.S, pose as a castaway and report to me. He knows the island better than anyone in the world. Reiter will view him as an asset. But it’s a time sensitive mission. At this rate, it would take months to break Queen down to the point where he would do this for A.R.G.U.S. I don’t have months.”

Felicity just nodded slowly. Of course she had questions, like who Reiter was or what Waller means by a “powerful artifact.” And most importantly what she planned to make Oliver  _do_. But she knew that what Waller said was the most explanation she’d get. “Fine,” Felicity breathed, glancing back up at the screen. At Oliver.

The guard had left and Oliver’s face was angled at the floor again.

Not giving Waller another glance, Felicity walked out of the room and straight to cell #3. The guard smirked as he opened the door, not saying a word, and Felicity held her breath.

Oliver didn’t look up as she came in, and she wasn’t sure if he thought the guard was back for round two. She cleared her throat. His head tilted in her direction, his eyes slowly lifting to meet hers. She let out the breath she didn’t realize she was still holding, sinking to her knees beside him.

Her vision blurred with tears as she stared at the hurt, distrustful expression on his face. Like a wild animal in a cage. After all his time on the island, she imagined that her comparison probably wasn’t so far off. His eyes darted between hers, as if he was trying to determine if she was here to hurt him or help him.

A guilty sob caught in her throat, and she no longer saw the menacing man on the screen. He didn’t have the same look in his eye as he stared at her that he’d had for the guard. He looked  _sad_. 

“I’m sorry,” she blurted, twisting her hands together in her lap. “I didn’t mean for this to happen to you, I didn’t plan on this, and I know you must hate me but I am so,  _so_ sorry.” She mumbled, her voice breaking as she looked down at her hands in shame.

She let out a tiny breath of surprise when she felt his fingers touch her chin, lifting her face to look at him. “It’s not your fault,” he answered lowly, his voice sounding exhausted.

Felicity shook her head, “John and I should have left you alone. You saved my life and this is what I do in return? You don’t deserve this-”

“Yes I do.” He interrupted, dropping his hand from her face. “Amanda Waller told me what she wants me to do for her. This isn’t the first time I’ve been beaten into submission.” Felicity cringed, remembering Waller’s opinion that he’d rather die than submit. 

He watched her for a moment, seeing her guilt, before continuing, “I’ve hurt others as badly as they’ve hurt me, Felicity. I’m not a good person. You don’t need to be sorry for finally putting me where I belong.” He glanced away, looking up at the bars over the door of his cell.

She raised an eyebrow, “have you seen the people I work for…the ones who did this to you?” Felicity blinked back more tears as her eyes fell to his chest, the fresh wounds and blood that covered his skin. “I’m not a good person, either,” she whispered, glancing back up to his face, over the cuts and bruises covering it.

“Felicity, I don’t think there’s a force on earth that can make you a bad person.”

“I don’t know about that,” she breathed, her heart racing. He said it so sweetly, so honestly. Someone who had been through the things he’d been through shouldn’t be capable of such sweetness. And she definitely didn’t feel like she deserved that from him, after what she’d done. He didn’t even know her, but he looked at her like he did. Like he understood.

Oliver stared at her, his eyes unwavering and interested, focused on her face. She had no idea what made him look at her like that, and she knew she didn’t deserve it, but she selfishly didn’t want him to stop. 

He’d been tortured and starved for ten days. He was exhausted and maybe delusional. She didn’t want to let herself think that he was actually  _interested_ in her, he probably had other things on his mind. “You have every reason to hate me,” she whispered.

Reaching up, she gently turned his face to get a better look at an alarmingly deep gash on his cheek, surprised when he let her, when he sighed into her touch instead of pulling away. 

“I don’t hate you,” he whispered back, “you did what you had to do. You forget that I’ve met Amanda Waller. I understand,” he said with a forgiving, gentle smile.

She bit her lip, wanting to argue because only a man who spent five years stranded on an island would think with that logic. “Besides, I knew I should have walked away from you and your partner on Lian Yu, but I stayed. I was well aware that this might happen.”

His head fell back against the wall with a sigh, his eyes closing for maybe the first time since he’d gotten here. Alone with her, he somehow felt comfortable enough to close his eyes. Felicity continued to stare, amazed as his shoulders fell with his exhale. She knew he wasn’t sleeping, but he was  _relaxing_. She should be the last person he feels relaxed around.

More than all of that craziness, she tried to make sense of his words. He was ‘ _well aware’_ that he could end up here? “Why didn’t you run?” She asked in a shaky voice, afraid that the answer might be ‘because I trusted you not to do this.’

Oliver opened his eyes to look at her, “I don’t know,” he said, barely audible. Their hushed voices reminded her of the camera in the corner and the fact that Waller was definitely watching this whole thing. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot ever since they threw me in here. I heard your friend coming up behind me, but I didn’t move. On the island, I was free. I was alone, but I was free. And I…I knew that your secret government bosses were probably going to want me instead of Yao Fei, but I guess I just didn’t care.”

“Why?” She pleaded, her voice cracking with shock. She’d been agonizing for days over what she and John had done to him. It hadn’t even occurred to her that Oliver could have  _let_ it happen.

His eyes met hers, holding her gaze for a long moment. “I wanted to be where you were.”

With those words, something inside her brain clicked, and Felicity quickly came up with a plan. Oliver’s eyes were glued to her face, watching the wheels turning in her mind.

She could do it.

She  _had_ to do it.

Leaning towards him, Felicity hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck. He stiffened for a moment, but then she felt his arms winding around her waist and pulling her closer. 

She was certain that he could hurt her, probably kill her…before the guard even had a chance to open the door. Of course he didn’t. His touch was tender as he held her back,  _protective_ somehow, even though she was the one who planned on protecting him. 

Using the hug to her advantage, knowing Waller wouldn’t be able to hear, Felicity brought her lips to his ear, “I’m going to get you out of here,” she promised.


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Roy Harper asked over the comms.

Felicity watched him from the security cameras in her office, dressed in all black and hiding in the dark as she mumbled back into her earpiece. "Yes. Just get in and get out," she bit her tongue to stop herself from teasing her friend over how he looked in his Big Belly Burger uniform. Red was definitely his color, but the hat didn't suit him. "One Belly Buster for Hodgkins, extra tranquilizer, hold the mayo," Felicity mumbled to herself.

She could see Roy rolling his eyes from the camera in the elevator, and she held her breath as he got off and headed for the security bay with the guard's meal. It was way too risky to hack into the feed and turn the cameras off. Waller would be onto her in a matter of minutes if she attempted to hack into A.R.G.U.S technology.

Her criminal activity was limited, which led her to recruit her childhood friend's assistance with this mission. Watching as Roy Harper took Hodgkins' money, Felicity waited until he was safely back in the elevator. "All right," she breathed, relieved that Roy had successfully made it in and _almost_ out without being caught. Luckily none of her coworkers knew about her friendship with Roy. A government base full of agents wasn't exactly where she'd ever thought to bring her friend with a rap sheet. "Get to the ground floor and get out," she instructed him, and nodded up at the camera.

Most of the staff had gone home for the night, leaving only the security officers on the graveyard shift. Hodgkins was phase one of her plan, but once he was asleep and unable to see her on the cameras, she still had to avoid the rest of the crew.

By the time Roy reached the front doors, Hodgkins was halfway through his burger and yawning. She grinned, thanking Roy one more time before he was home free, heading for the parking lot. She tapped her foot, waiting and staring at her screen while Hodgkins shook his head, trying to fight the inevitable sleep as he finished up his food. After another two minutes, he couldn't fight it anymore, and he fell asleep with his head on his desk, the last bite of his burger still in his hand.

Jumping to her feet, Felicity hurried to the door, and then slowed down and took a deep breath when she reached the hallway, remembering that she couldn't cause a scene by running around the building dressed like a ninja. Waller had already banned her from staying later than regular hours, trying to keep her from seeing Oliver Queen without an agent accompanying her.

Felicity casually walked to the elevators, glancing over her shoulder while she waited. Then she stepped inside and waited again. She'd been studying the graveyard crew's schedules for over a week in preparation for tonight.

Her watch read 10:23. In two minutes, Rob Saunders, the guard that oversaw the holding cells, would be going on his rounds. She'd already been discreetly timing the journey to the basement, figuring how how long she had. And she knew the exact moment she needed to push the elevator buttons, all the right steps to take to avoid Rob. 

The plan was simple enough. Roy knocked out the agent stationed at the cameras, she slipped passed Rob, grabbed Oliver, and escaped through the back door. From there, things got a little dicier. Roy's apartment was their safest bet, since Waller would look for them at Felicity's place and everyone else's she knew of. But still, it'd only be a matter of time before A.R.G.U.S dug up her connection to Roy Harper, and then they'd be coming. She guessed that they'd only have enough time to get Oliver cleaned up, give him a change of clothes, and then they'd have to be off to god knows where.

Roy had a car ready for them in the parking garage, a mundane looking one with random plates. All she had to do was get Oliver safely to the car and they'd be okay, at least until Waller realized that her number one prisoner was missing. 

His cell was only about a two minute distance from the elevators. But the risk was that if Rob didn't follow his schedule, her whole plan would go up in flames. She waited with shaking hands, prepared to press the button and make a run for Oliver's cell. Knowing that Rob should be upstairs by now, she opened the doors and hurried down the hallway. She'd learned the codes from watching the other officers, since Waller obviously didn't trust her with them, and her fingers flew across the keypads, unlocking the door to the holding cells.

She ran to Oliver's as quickly as she could, overriding the lock on that door, too. He was still bloody and shirtless, looking up at her from the dark corner of the cell with distrustful eyes. Oliver didn't have any new wounds that she could see, which she was grateful for. Ever since she promised to get him out, he'd complied with Waller, and the torture had mostly stopped. _Mostly_. Under the condition that he'd get to see Felicity, he'd agreed to go back to Lian Yu under cover. So long as he got one Felicity visit each day until he had to leave, that is. And Felicity wasn't about to let that happen. "Hi," she breathed, and he squinted, his eyes adjusting to the light pouring into the room.

"Felicity?" 

Crossing the room, she tugged on his arm, knowing that Rob could be back on the floor any minute. "Come on," she said, helping him to his feet, "we have to go."

"Go?" He asked, leaning on her as she pulled his arm to wrap around her shoulders. "Go where? Felicity, no. Waller would kill you if she catches us."

It was hard not to notice the panic in his tone. Waller had allowed them thirty minutes together every day, assisted by a guard. So Felicity never had an opportunity to share her escape plans with him. But they had been able to talk. About his family. About her hobbies, her work. The topics were always kept safe and unexciting, but it was still her favorite part of her day. She looked forward to spending those thirty minutes with him for the past week, and then at night, she and Roy would get together and hash out their plan to break Oliver out. 

Overall, they'd barely spent more than a few hours getting to know each other, so she was slightly surprised by his concern for her when he should be celebrating the possibility of his freedom if she could pull this off. But then again, he'd reacted to her like this ever since she met him. Now wasn't really the time for unexplainable, instant chemistry though. "I'm not leaving this cell without you, so you can either come with me, or Waller's agent will find me in here during an unauthorized time and she'll punish me accordingly."

His eyes narrowed, realizing that his options were lose-lose. And so were hers, if he didn't start moving _right_ _now_. With a sigh, Oliver leaned on her, and she wrapped one arm around his waist to keep him steady, gripping his wrist in her other hand as they started to move. She'd accounted for how slow he'd be. Aside from the injuries Waller had inflicted, he'd also barely been able to stand up in nearly three weeks. His muscles were probably limp with disuse. He was thinner than he'd been on the island, which she knew was ironic. 

She was trying very hard not to freak out, glancing down at the watch on her wrist as they hobbled their way to the parking garage. It was almost 10:35, and Rob Saunders' rounds never took more than ten minutes. "Okay, Oliver," she whispered, the door to the garage in sight. "We need to hurry up, all right? We don't have much time."

Nodding with renewed focus, she could see the effort it took for him to make his legs move faster. But she sighed in relief as she reached for the door, shoving it open and ungracefully getting them both through it, afraid to let him go for even a moment. "Hey!"

Felicity recognized Saunders' voice from behind them as the door slammed shut and her heart started to race. "Frack," she groaned, dragging Oliver towards the car. She pushed him into the passenger seat and closed the door, running around the front to get behind the wheel just as she saw Saunders chasing after them, shouting and pulling out his communications device to alert the other guards. "Frack, frack, frack," she scrambled to get the key into the ignition, jumping when Oliver's hand covered hers, slipping it in and starting the car. She glanced at him as she threw the car in drive and pressed her foot on the gas, noticing how calm he looked.

Surely, he'd been through more intense things than a young and dumb security guard on their tail, but Felicity wasn't used to spending her nights fleeing from the law. "Take a breath, honey," he said gently, nodding once and keeping his eyes straight ahead, focused on the exit just a couple yards away. "You still have to breathe,"

Rob jumped in front of the car, and she slammed on the brakes instinctively. He rounded the car, his gun raised as he approached the drivers side. She was about to push the gas peddle to the floor and get the hell out of there, but Oliver moved faster, leaning over her lap until his hand was on the door handle. 

In one quick movement, he rammed it open, hitting Saunders right in the face. Rob grunted, stumbling back and dropping his gun so he could grip his nose. The guy prided himself on his looks, and she couldn't help but grin, because he would probably be more upset about a broken nose than he would be about letting them get away.

Calmly, Oliver closed her door, hesitating for just a moment with his face next to hers. "Drive please, Felicity."

"Right!" She nodded as he retreated back to his own space. Felicity peeled out of the parking garage, tires squealing, just as a hoard of guards burst through the stairwell door a moment too late.

"Oh my god!" She laughed, her adrenaline still racing but in a relieved way now that they were on the street, A.R.G.U.S getting smaller as they got further away. Now, it felt good. Exciting. "We did it."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her, " _you_ did it."

She beamed back at him, a special kind of comfort warming her chest. She'd been dreading her plan for a week, plotting every second and step. And part of her had almost been expecting to get caught, but unwilling to admit to herself that getting caught would mean her own death. Waller had killed people for a lot less...

They were free. But her celebration was short lived, because A.R.G.U.S already knew what she'd done. They were only three blocks away from headquarters, and she was certain that by now, Waller was aware of the situation and making a plan to find them. "We have to go someplace safe," she frowned, not wanting to risk Roy's life anymore. If they'd had a few hours to recuperate before A.R.G.U.S realized they were gone, it'd be one thing. But she couldn't flee an entire army of agents and lead them right to her friend's doorstep.

"Don't worry," Oliver mumbled, "I know a place."

"Where?" She asked.

Instead of answering, he gave her directions, telling her which way to go until they were in The Glades, nearly out of town. "I wasn't always on Lian Yu." He explained as they pulled up to a decrepit building. It looked like a warehouse, abandoned construction equipment lying around and a mess of concrete and dust. About three years ago, she remembered that the city had tried to turn the buildings in these neighborhoods into apartments until they ran out of money and the project had been put on hold. 

"You got off the island...and you came here?" She whispered as he pointed out where to park, behind the building and hidden from the street. Oliver nodded, climbing out of the car and stumbling along the brick wall to a pile of boxes. He searched through them until he found a tarp, then she helped him cover up the car. "Why?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

Oliver shook his head, "let's get inside," he mumbled, glancing around. It was clear that his instincts were kicking in, and she trusted them as much as she trusted him.

She helped him to the door, where he found a crowbar and broke the lock on a chain wrapped around the handle. A moment later, he was leading her into an unfinished and dusty apartment. It looked like it hadn't been touched in years, void of furniture except for a couch with a blanket thrown over it. There were a few books lying around, a handful of dishes up in one of the cupboards. "You lived here?"

Oliver shrugged, "for a while," he whispered lowly, leaning against the counter in the kitchen to keep his balance. The place had open electrical outlets and half painted walls, literally like the workers had abandoned it in the middle of construction.

"How?" She asked, staring at him. As far as Waller _seemed_ to know, he'd been on Lian Yu for five years. 

"There was a fishing boat. I flagged them down and they got me off the island."

"But...I never heard any stories about you coming home."

"No one knew," he confirmed, "I didn't tell my family. I stayed here and I just...I wanted to check on them. My sister, my mom, my best friend Tommy. I wanted to make sure that they were okay."

"Why didn't you want them to know you're alive?"

"Because I was broken," he answered honestly, his voice low as he stared back at her, his eyes not hiding the truth of that. "I went to a party one night while I was here. My sister Thea...I found out she'd been doing drugs. I tried to scare off her dealer, but he said he made too much money off of Thea to stop selling to her. He called her a 'rich bitch' and we started fighting. Then he recognized me. And I killed him."

Felicity shuddered, but refused to look away. She took a step towards him, not stopping until she was just inches away. Putting her hand gently on his cheek, she smiled gently at him, saying everything and nothing at the same time. Yet she was surprised when he released a deep breath, his body relaxing as if her hand on his face and her eyes on his made him feel like it was all okay. "Let's get you cleaned up. We won't be able to stay here forever. Waller will find us eventually."

He nodded slowly, but didn't move. When she started to pull her hand away, he caught it with his, carefully bringing it back to his face. With her palm pressed against his cheek again, Oliver's eyes slid closed. His skin was cold, dark circles under his eyes and hollowed cheeks. She knew he must be starving and exhausted. Slowly, Oliver tilted his face into her hand, his breath gliding over her skin as his lips brushed against her wrist. It sent a shiver over her and sent her heart racing at the same time. He didn't kiss her, but his mouth was just over her pulse point, and she was certain that he felt it pick up speed. His eyes opened, meeting her gaze.

Then he took a step closer, and her hand slid down to his neck, her fingers tightening, holding on to him as he pressed his forehead against hers. Oliver's nose brushed against Felicity's, and her lips parted in anticipation, never wanting to be kissed more than she did in that moment, by him.

She wanted to know if he kissed as passionately as he seemed to do everything else, and when her eyes flickered up to his again, she was suddenly _very_ sure that he did.

Something about it was annoyingly intimidating, knotting her stomach with fear of what she'd be getting herself into. "You need a shower," she blurted, unsure where the words came from. Oliver froze, and then he laughed once under his breath, biting his lip to fight a smile. Slowly, he nodded back, his nose sliding against hers, and she tilted her chin up to keep him close, the other side of her remembering how much she wanted him to kiss her.

She didn't want him to move, but she was also afraid of what they might do if he didn't.

Oliver pulled back, scratching his head as he glanced down at his bloody, dirty body. He smiled sweetly at her, a flash of that unexpected innocence in his eyes, before he headed off down the hallway. She stayed frozen in the kitchen until she heard him turn the water on, the pipes screeching in disagreement, like they were as unprepared for Oliver Queen as she was.

Shaking her head to refocus, she turned her attention to the kitchen, not expecting to find food, but she needed something to do. So she searched the cupboards for anything edible, thinking that a starving man wouldn't be picky. 

In a bottom cabinet, she found a stockpile of perishables. Apparently he'd been prepared to come back someday. She pulled out some rice and canned vegetables, working quickly and keeping her thoughts focused on the task. It definitely wasn't a five star meal, but now that she was finally relaxed enough to have an appetite, it smelled pretty good, and she knew Oliver wouldn't have any complaints.

Taking the rice off the burner, she set aside the one pot he had, wondering what was taking him so long. 

Felicity made her way down the hallway, moving quietly although she wasn't sure why. The apartment was still covered in patchy paint and sawdust, so it shouldn't have surprised her that the construction workers hadn't gotten around to installing doors yet. But when she glanced into the bathroom, she saw Oliver sitting in a bathtub with his head resting against the back, his arms outstretched over the sides. He'd washed off most of the blood, but the water held a shade of red from the deeper wounds he was currently cleansing.

She froze for a moment, watching the easy way his chest lifted out of the water and came back down, his breaths even and slow. He looked peaceful, but his eyebrows were furrowed and his hands fingers were tight on the edges of the tub. Debating whether or not to say something, Felicity hesitated in the doorway, unable to determine if he was sleeping or ignoring her or meditating or what.

As if in response to her thoughts, he inhaled deeply, shifting slightly in the water. "I know you're there," he told her through a sigh.

Crossing her arms, Felicity cleared her throat, "I made some food. We should eat and get going. Are you hungry?" He nodded, but he didn't move. She bit her lip, "I thought you were just going to take a quick shower. We don't really have time for relaxing bubble baths."

He chuckled, "I didn't have any bubbles, and I _did_ take a shower. Didn't really make me feel clean." His voice was low, and she knew that he wasn't just talking about the dirt, sweat, and blood. 

Not sure what she was doing until she was stepping into the bathroom and kneeling down in front of his bathtub, she reached for the washcloth he'd tossed into the sink. When she looked back at him, his eyes were open, his pupils dilated as he watched her. "What are you doing?" He asked, glancing down at the towel in her hands.

With a shrug, Felicity dipped the washcloth into the warm water and gently moved it over his chest. She gently scrubbed at one of his deeper gashes. It looked swollen and irritated, and her eyebrows furrowed as she worried about infections. She couldn't look up at him, afraid he might shove her hand away. But Oliver stayed perfectly still as Felicity gave attention to his wounds, holding her breath and realizing how many layers there were.

The newest scars were from A.R.G.U.S, of course. Ones he'd received because of her after she and John had taken him off the island. "I'm still sorry, you know," she whispered.

" _Fel-i-ci-ty_ ," he breathed out her name, sounding different on his tongue than ever before. He said it as if he wanted to savor each syllable, as if just her _name_ was something to be treasured. Her eyes darted up to his, but she only held his heated gaze for a moment before he was sitting up, two wet hands reaching to grip each side of her face. And then he was kissing her. His lips were careful and controlled, moving slowly against hers, but she felt it all the way to her toes. Her hands formed over his as she dropped the washcloth into the water with a splash. He sucked at her bottom lip, his tongue slipping out to trace the shape of it, and she got the distinct feeling that he'd been thinking about doing that for a while.

A smile spread across her face at the thought, and she was surprised to hear a genuine laugh escape his lips in response. He didn't move his mouth from hers as he mumbled, "what?"

"Nothing," she answered, kissing him again. He pushed himself up even more to meet her, his hands combing through her hair and his chest pressing against hers. She could feel the water from his skin soaking her shirt, but she didn't care about it aside from the fact that it reminded her how naked he was. 

Pulling back, her fingers instantly touched her lips, her eyes sliding down to his mouth, his perfect lips...no wonder it felt so good to kiss him. Her own lip twitched, already wanting to discover more of this feeling. But they had to get moving, or else everything she'd done would be for nothing. Waller couldn't find him naked in a bathtub and kissing her...she'd put far too much effort into his escape than to let their distracting hormones be the reason A.R.G.U.S caught up to them. "Uh," she caught her breath, watching the corner of his mouth pull up into a smile. "You should get dressed. I have some clothes for you in the car. Then we really should get out of here."

Oliver nodded in agreement, "let me go out and grab them," he said, moving to get out of the tub. 

Her hand instantly slapped over her eyes and she yelped, realizing what her face would be eye-level with if he stood up. "No, it's fine!" She squeaked, "I'll grab the bag, you...dry off because I'm wet- _you're_  wet!" She cried, awkwardly rummaging around until she touched a towel. She held it out for him, listening to him chuckle as he took it. Felicity pushed back and stood up, turning around without looking at him as she moved to the door, "be right back," she grumbled before silently mouthing a string of curses at herself.

She didn't slow down as she paced through the apartment and out of the door they'd come in through. She pulled out the keys and unlocked the car, grateful that he'd parked just outside the door and she didn't have to wander too far away from him. Because now that it was dark and she was alone, she could feel how serious it all was.

Waller would _kill_ her if she found them. She'd probably kill Oliver, too. Shaking her head, she pushed the tarp back enough so that she could squeeze into the back seat and grab the bag of clothes Roy had loaned her. "No more making out with the escapee," she mumbled to herself.

"Felicity,"

Gasping, Felicity spun around, gripping the keys tightly in her fist because it was her only weapon.

John Diggle raised his hands cautiously, his eyes widening. "I'm not going to hurt you." Her eyes darted around the alley, looking for agents dressed in all black with guns raised at her. She'd seen enough missions to know how the tactical teams worked; quick and stealthy. "I'm alone."

"How did you find me?"

"Waller knows everything about Queen. She knows he came back to Starling three years ago and that this building is where he stayed. Even as injured as he is, she also knows she'd probably loose a dozen agents trying to take him down. Waller thought trying to reason with you first might be a better way."

"She sent you here?" Felicity asked, stepping back as her heart sank into her stomach. So Waller knew exactly where they were.

"She asked me to come and look. Waller wasn't sure if he'd bring you here. Felicity," John shook his head, "I already plan on telling her I didn't find anything. I'll tell her you and Queen must be out of town by now."

"Why would you do that? Cover for me and this obviously stupid plan..."

"Because I want to help."


	4. Chapter 4

After Diggle found her in the alley and pleaded with her to trust that he wanted to help them, Felicity had invited him inside. And very quickly, Felicity realized that they were better off  _ with  _ her partner’s help than without it.

Oliver was quiet while she and John had made the plans, clearly hesitant to trust the guy who’d knocked him out on Lian Yu, probably wondering if they were being lead straight into a trap. “I need to get you out of town.” John stated.

“Where would you take us?” Oliver mumbled lowly, his eyes focused on Dig.

“Bludhaven.”

Felicity frowned, “why?”

And John sighed, shifting uncomfortably. “I have a studio apartment there. It’s a place I keep private. Waller doesn’t know about it.”

“How are you so sure she doesn't know?”

“Because if she did, I’d be fired…or dead. And so would Lyla Michaels.”

Felicity stared at him in confusion as he hooked his hands onto his waist and waited. Then, when it clicked, her jaw dropped with a hissed out, “oh my god! You’re screwing Waller’s second in command!?”

“I’m not  _ screwing  _ her,” Diggle bit back, “she’s my wife.”

“Wha- _ what _ ?”

John brushed her off, needing to get back to A.R.G.U.S, but he was foolish if he’d thought that would be the end of it. 

Once they settled a time, Diggle went and told Amanda Waller that Felicity and Oliver  _ had  _ been at the apartment, but they were gone by the time he got there. Then he came back later with the car Roy had loaned them, and he drove them out of town while he was supposed to be out searching for them.

She’d used every precious minute during the two hour drive to Bludhaven to question him. And John had answered with clipped responses...but he answered. When did they get married? _Six years ago._ Where? _Afghanistan._ How did Waller  _ not  _ know? _They were good at keeping secrets._ Was he absolutely  _ sure  _ she didn’t know? _Yes._  John and Lyla never spoke at work, their paths never crossed, so it was easy enough to sneak it under Waller’s nose.

The secret was simply too good for her not to believe him. He couldn't come up with a lie like that. And Felicity knew that John and Lyla would have been punished by now if Waller knew about their marriage, so his secret apartment was probably the safest place to go. 

As she sat beside John, she continued to glance at Oliver in the rearview mirror for the rest of the ride. He was fighting to keep his eyes open in the backseat, like he didn’t want to close them. He was tired though, almost falling asleep a few times, but as soon as she’d see him start to drift off, he’d wake himself up, his eyes immediately glancing at her. Checking on her.

Felicity offered him assuring smiles every time, and he’d nod once, pretending that he wasn’t exhausted after spending  _ weeks  _ alternating between torture and laying on a concrete floor. She bit her tongue about that, at least for the ride, knowing that his silence in John’s presence was his own choice. Oliver’s walls seemed to go up around anyone that wasn’t her. But then again, the only people she’d seen him around were A.R.G.U.S agents who wanted to hurt him, so...

When they arrived at the apartment, Diggle did a sweep around and through the building, leaving them in the car. She turned around to look at Oliver as Dig headed inside. “Hi,” she whispered, smiling at his sleepy eyes.

He smiled back, a gorgeous and genuine expression that made her heart do a little flip. “Hi, Felicity.”

She shook her head as his eyes fluttered closed for a bit too long to be considered blinking. “I can’t wait to get you to bed.”

Oliver’s lip twitched with a smile, and she clamped her mouth shut. “I’m looking forward to that, too...whether you mean sleeping, or something else.”

“Sleep,” she laughed. “I think you’re too tired to be thinking about sex right now. You’d probably fall asleep halfway through.”

He raised an eyebrow at her and shook his head. “I highly doubt that, Felicity.”

She bit her lip, glancing away from him and looking up at the building. They had no business talking about sex while they were in the middle of running for their lives. She had no business kissing the man she’d kidnapped in a bathtub after kidnapping him for a second time. He had no business flirting with a woman that he had every reason not to trust.

Yet there they were.

Diggle came back outside, making sure the coast was clear before he waved them inside. He brought them into the small apartment, closing the door once everyone was inside. It was dark and damp, with exposed pipes above their heads and the faint smell of mold as soon as he’d opened the door. But it was safe. 

Her partner gave them a tour of the tiny studio that took about two minutes, pointing to everything around the room and telling them to help themselves to the food. John nodded to Oliver on his way out, and Felicity was surprised yet somehow relieved when Oliver mumbled his thanks. For some reason, she really wanted the two of them to get along.

Oliver didn’t speak again until after John had left, and even then, he’d started out by trying to argue that he should stay up to keep an eye out, just in case. He gestured to the bed, “you rest,”

Felicity shook her head, crossing her arms as she planted her feet for a fight, knowing that Oliver’s stubbornness matched her own. “No way. I probably slept more last night than you have in two weeks.” She pointed to the bed with a stern, “lay down.”

He lifted his hands in surrender as a faint laugh escaped his lips. “Okay.”

When he sat down on the bed and looked at her, she raised an eyebrow. And he laughed again, finally settling down on his back, leaning against the pillows. She moved towards the only piece of decoration in the space, a framed photo hanging from the exposed brick wall. It was a shot of Lyla and John, both in army camouflage, holding up their left hands to show their rings. They looked excited, and the two friends on either side of them were cheering. The moment seemed real. Genuine and spontaneous. She'd never seen John Diggle like that, and it pulled her own mouth into a grin. 

“Felicity?” Oliver asked as he stared up at the ceiling.

“Hm?” She pulled her attention from the photographic evidence that still shocked her. Her partner was _married_.

“Do you really think we’re safe here?”

She looked around the loft, feeling like Diggle was telling the truth. John’s wife was Waller’s most trusted agent. Surely, that wouldn’t be true if Waller knew about them or this place. “Yeah,” she whispered, walking to the door and locking it, then moving to the windows and looking down at the quiet city below her. She pulled the curtains closed. “It feels safe here. Right?”

Turning back around, she saw Oliver push up onto his elbows. “It does,” he mumbled with a nod. “And you...you trust him? John?”

“I do,” she smiled, watching as Oliver nodded seriously, contemplating her words. Realizing that he was putting  _ his  _ faith in  _ her  _ instincts, Felicity sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at him. “He’s a good one, Oliver. He’s like a brother to me. Maybe if all of this had gone down a little differently...I don’t know, maybe you two could have been friends.”

His eyebrows furrowed, “I don’t regret anything, Felicity. Pushing you off that landmine, letting you take me, having thirty minutes of happiness every day that we talked while I was at A.R.G.U.S. Getting to know you, even with these circumstances, has just...you make me feel like a person again. You’re sweet, and caring, and funny, and I-I feel more like myself than I have in a very long time.”

Instinctively, she brought her hand to his hair, “get some sleep, Oliver. I’ll be right here when you wake up...and you can tell me more about how great I am,” she teased, winking at him.

He huffed out another laugh, shaking his head as he closed his eyes and leaned into her hand.

“Thank you for saving me.” She knew that he was talking about her plan to bust him out of A.R.G.U.S custody. Of course he was. Yet, his tone suggested at something deeper.

Felicity leaned forward, remembering how _he_ had been the one to save _her_ after she’d stepped on that explosive on the island. Felicity pressed her lips to his forehead, “I owed you one.”

His hand caught her wrist as she started to pull back. “Maybe you should get some rest, too.” He breathed, his eyes still closed. Licking his lips, he waited for her to answer.

“Okay.”

With her agreement, he opened his eyes, meeting her gaze and nodding. Then he slid across the bed, making room for her to lie down in his spot. Felicity settled in next to him, her arms and legs intertwining with Oliver’s as soon as she touched the mattress. His head rested on her chest, and she combed her fingers through his hair, listening as his breathing slowed and he fell asleep in less than one minute.

She wasn’t much further behind; the smell of his shampoo filling her nose as she pressed her face into his hair, letting her own breath match his deep and even inhales and exhales. She couldn’t help but enjoy the peaceful way he relaxed against her, as if  _ she  _ was the one keeping  _ him  _ safe. Protecting him. 

It didn’t take long for Felicity’s eyes to close and join him in some much needed sleep.

When she opened her eyes again, she’d turned onto her side, facing Oliver with her chin on the top of his head, her arm tossed lazily over his shoulder. And he was quiet below her, his face still hidden in her neck. But he was definitely awake.

Oliver’s hands were gently moving over her back, tracing soft patterns as he held her between his arms. 

She blinked, her eyes flickering around the room, trying to put the pieces back together in her disoriented, just awakened state. For a split second, the room was unfamiliar and it made her panic. Then she remembered how they’d gotten there. She’d freed Oliver from A.R.G.U.S containment, John brought them to Bludhaven. Right.

Felicity blinked some more, letting it all come back to her as she woke up. 

Morning light was spilling in through the cracks in the curtains, but Oliver didn’t seem to notice or care how long they’d been asleep. His arms tightened around her, the tips of his fingers gripping into her lower back. In response, her own arms did the same, dragging herself closer, hugging him tight. She felt his breath on her neck as he sighed...and then his lips. He kissed a trail of hot, wet kisses to her jaw, and then he opened his eyes and looked at her. 

It only took her a moment to see the clarity in his stare. His deep blue eyes were brighter, better rested, and he kept her gaze for a few short seconds. Her neck felt warm where his lips had been, and she knew that they were on the same page, the same team, as they both held their breaths. Then she kissed him, and he more than met her halfway. 

Oliver guided her onto her back, moving over her as his teeth nipped at her bottom lip. One hand held his weight above her and the other gripped her chin. 

Her heart went wild, her whole body buzzing to life as she scrambled to meet Oliver, to get closer to him and cursing all the annoying blankets and sheets in her way. Felicity pushed back against him, lifting her head. And he hauled her up, pulling her into his lap and shoving the comforter away as his fingers tangled into her hair. 

He was focused on bringing her back down to the mattress when the door suddenly burst open, “get up! Get up, get up! Hands on your head!”

Oliver was up in an instant, dragging her out of the bed and shoving her behind his back, putting himself between her and the familiar black uniforms that flooded into the apartment. The shift from vertical to horizontal made her head spin just as much as the shift from sexy makeout to guns in her face. 

“Felicity…” Oliver reached behind him, holding out his hand for her. She gripped it immediately, twining her fingers through his as her wide eyes flew around the room, watching as more and more A.R.G.U.S agents filled the already cramped space. “Do you trust me?”

Her eyes darted to him at the question. With all of the guns trained on them, Oliver couldn't look at her, not daring to take his eyes off the threats. But she blinked at his profile. “Y-yes.”

He nodded once and then mumbled “hold on to me tight,” before forcing her arms around his neck. Oliver spun towards the window, launching himself straight out of it with Felicity cradled against his side.

They crashed through the glass, the curtain providing a cushion between the sharp edges and his skin. Oliver landed with bare feet on the fire escape below. The sound of bullets wasn’t far behind. The voices of A.R.G.U.S agents yelling to each other, starting to follow after them, but Oliver was already onto his next move. Which was apparently  _ jumping  _ across the alleyway and onto the next building. Felicity yelped, squeezing her arms and legs around him like a damn monkey and closing her eyes. 

She was surprised when he chose to go up instead of down; maneuvering his way up the walls of one building, throwing himself onto the next, and catching a windowsill on another by the grips of his fingers. All while somehow managing to avoid the waterfall of bullets aimed at them. 

When he made it to a roof down the street, far enough away that the agents couldn't open fire in the civilian neighborhood without causing too much damage, Felicity finally opened her eyes. 

But she held her grip on him, instantly snapping her head around to see the well-trained agents struggling to catch up to him and his crazy parkour methods. “Okay, Felicity,” Oliver muttered, his voice full of calm and comfort. He gently eased her off him, his chest rising and falling in quick breaths. “Now we jump.”

Felicity stared down at the pavement, at least fifteen stories below them. She whipped around to glare at him, “no!” Oliver was holding a rusty industrial chain in his hand when she turned back around, one he’d found and tied to a just as rusty looking pipe. He tugged on it, testing its strength. “Are you crazy!?” She hissed.

Oliver just leveled her with a look, “I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you. But by the time those soldiers get to the street and have us surrounded, I don’t know how much say I’ll have in that matter.” He looped the chain around his hand a few times, clenching it in one fist and extending his other hand to her with an open palm. “We have to move, honey. Now.”

Felicity groaned, but took his hand. Oliver squeezed it assuringly, and then pulled her to his chest. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and she took a deep breath, trying to pretend that jumping from a building would feel just like a roller coaster. 

She hated roller coasters.

“Mr. Queen!”

Oliver quickly moved towards the edge of the building, ignoring the voice completely.  But Waller’s presence caught Felicity’s attention. 

Amanda appeared on the roof, coming up from the building’s stairwell with Lyla Michaels at her side, the women aiming their guns at them. 

“One more step, and these bullets go into agent Smoak’s skull,” Waller sneered, “not yours.”


End file.
